From Flat to Farm house!

A question about : From Flat to Farm house!

Wow, big challenge ahead so I'll just start small by going from a lurker to a poster! Like many others I have become captivated and totally inspired by the daily updates of strangers battling their mortgages and would love to be a part of the community.
I bought my flat a year ago and although it is lovely with a big garden, wooden floorboards and an open fire place, I have aspirations for something a lot bigger! I have previously rented my spare room to various lodgers but have decided that it is too much sacrifice at the moment so instead I am focusing on the little things to increase my OPs. I try to live a simple, country/old-style life despite my location, and have high hopes for my veg patch whilst ramping up my batch cooking and packed lunches.
So down to the detail, theres's about 135k on the motgage with a value of 195k ish. I'd like to have 100k equity by the time my fix ends in July 2017 but of course the ultimate aim is the farm house!

Will get my signature sorted soon to keep track of my progress, sounds simple!

Floppy Disk

Best answers:

• Welcome and good luck
• Hi,
  Just wishing you the very best of luck on your MF journey. You already have a decent amount of equity in your apartment so maybe you're already a bit of a pro with the moneysaving!
  On a separate note, I really like your name!
  Nora
• Hello
  Just wanted to wish you luck in your new journey! I've just started out too, is very exciting
  happyfuture
  x
• I too like your name floppy, harking back to a bygone era! I used to love floppy disks and changing them to disk 2 when requested. Happy days.
  Anyway happy savings, and sharing your journey. When I was saving hard, it was an update several times a week on here and the community you get for support really does encourage you to strive and continue to over save!
• All the best on your journey.
• Just popping in to say say good luck with the new diary floppy disc
• Thank you all for a warm welcome, I suppose it's been a slow start but I'll give you all some details to get going. The mortgage as it stands is at Ј135,419 fixed for 4 years, so my current hopes are to re-assess the situation in July 2017 and hopefully be in a strong position for whatever the priority may be then. Zoopla values the flat at Ј193,457 which I think is fairly accurate and that's how I work out my equity for my target.
  'Team Farmhouse' is made up of myself and Mr Floppy (he won't forgive me for that one!) who is a full time student but very much on board in spirit. So between my stingy-ness and his student discounts we should be in a good place! We're still a fairly new couple and just venturing into the world of living together but I hope that won't add too much drama to the story! Floppy dogs 1 and 2 come to visit sometimes to add some rustic charm to the place and keep the weekend's busy with walks.
  I currently round up my payments to Ј600 providing a little OP of Ј17ish every month, which I try to top up with what I can, even if it's just Ј5. After other expenses I should have Ј500 or so left over each month for OPs, but currently I am well off that.
  I have started taking cash out for the month for food shopping to cut down on itty bitty spends, but there always seems to be items that are 'needed' and I'm torn between treating myself or tightening the belt, I know it's a balance to be found.
  Goal for this week is to keep up with the country spirit. I am desperate to start horse riding again after a very long break, although I'm very nervous. I've decided to volunteer with the local club so that hopefully by next year when we have a bit more money spare between us I will have the friends and contacts to think about getting on board. I also must go to the gym at work more, I've bought myself a gorgeous new handbag big enough for my gym kit to inspire me. Oops!
  Finally I need to try to do something with the garden this year, I've been told that planting potatoes makes the ground fertile for the next season but that I need potato seed. Am I being made the butt of a joke here, I though potatoes were the seeds?! Anyone have any ideas what I should do?
• There was something on the radio last week about it being Ј70 per week more expensive per week to live in the countryside. Make sure to factor that in.
• Depends completly on your own circumstances and situation though, not everyone has the same outgoings/size of family. Good luck floppy, will follow with interest, i am the same, wanting to go from my flat(about Ј20k equity as just bought 6 months ago) to a farmhouse/detached house with no immediate neighbours!! We will need about Ј180k all in for it so could move anytime we like using equity as 10% deposit. Would like to keep this place to rent out so means saving up a new deposit for next place as opposed to selling and using that money as deposit. Good luck with it all, small steps will soon get you to your goal...and allow you to set a new goal!!
• YoungBusinessman, I agree, and city/flat living involves management charges and parking permits etc. I'm also dreaming of a world with no immediate neighbours and also thinking of keeping this place, but with complications like management companies, letting agents etc I'm already thinking it will be nicer to forget the stress, just sell up and enjoy a lower 'forever' mortgage. We will have to look at the figures when it arises. A half decent house around here would be at least Ј400k so it's all a long way off so for now I am just looking to keep my options open!
  Good luck with your journey too, do you have a diary to follow?
• No diary....yet! Will be away to set one up right now(in MFW board as opposed to savings board where get my head bitten off every time i start a thread, oops!)
  Im constantly looking for next place, the finance is probably there to upgrade but it would put mortgage payment up, which i wouldnt want to do as interest rates rise i wouldnt be that comfortable.
  Il link my diary once i get it going.
• look forward to reading you, Floppy Disk.
• Hi Floppy.
  I'm no expert but I have grown potatoes for a couple of years now. Seed potatoes are recommended for growing new plants, though I couldn't tell you why. Regular spuds will grow plants if put in soil, supposedly not as good though. Apparently if you bury peelings they will also grow. I never emptied my growing sacks (i garden in containers on decking) from last year and have plants again, clearly missed a couple of spuds in the harvest. Will have to see how it goes but I don't intend to invest any time or money in them this year as an experiment. If you're growing for money saving, not just pleasure, ignore spuds and grow stuff that's more expensive to buy in shops like salad leaves, tomatoes, peppers etc.
• Don't have time to do a proper update until the evening, but I so have just enough time to have a quick brag about my gas bill for this month - totalling Ј6! Really hope the rest of the summer can be a similar amount and we can be left with a nice credit on the account for winter.
  Looking forward to doing my salary shuffle later!
  Floppy x
• you can grow ordinary spuds but it is better to use seed potatoes that will be certified virus free and also will be appropriate for your climate. If you planted a Jersey royal in Aberdeen it would grow but not well - too cold and wet for the variety.
  Good luck on your quest for a farm house. Eventually we would like to move somewhere with land so that the dog (or dogs if we had land) could run free without worry - strong prey drive and no recall means she stays on lead here.
  I can only dream of a gas bill like that but we are getting a new boiler in the summer so things should improve - currently paying Ј355 pcm for gas & elec combined
• Gosh that's a huge amount Mally, mine is a new boiler and I hope yours is as efficient! We have an electric shower so that helps (leccy was Ј22 for the month and that doesn't move much throughout the year) but my lodger loved her long baths so I'm aiming for Ј5 this month!!
  Thank you all for the potato advise, I'll keep my eyes peeled (ha!) for seeds, although I've got some soft ones and peelings that I'll dig into the ground anyway. I'm not intending to do anything with it this year anyway.
  Otherwise and moneywise I have some big work expenses outstanding which I'm not closer to getting back as I don't have access to a printer at work so may even need to buy one purely for my expenses!
• Good info on seed spuds Mally, thanks. Floppy, to avoid a potential embarrassment that I experienced myself- seed spuds look like normal spuds, usually found in big tubs at the garden centre at the right time of year. They don't come in little packets hanging on a rack!
• peelings will only grow if they have an eye on - and you will not be providing much fuel for growth unless you are a putting a lot of peelings in together.
  I did horticulture and garden design training as a hobby a while back